Preregistered riders stop in at BelAir before you ride to check in, get your wrist band, and pick up free candy canes to hand out to kids watching along the ride. For those who save their holiday shopping until Christmas Eve, you can register for the Rampage that morning between 7AM and 9AM at Red Dot.

See the list below for other Santa Gathering places to enjoy holiday cheer before and after the ride. Keep in the loop as we add more Santa Gathering places and announce special offers for Santa’s helpers on our Santa Cycle Rampage Facebook community and Facebook event page. If you have a favorite cafe or tavern that wants to be listed as a Santa Rampage gathering place, ask the owner or manager to email daves@wisconsinbikefed.org

Please save yourself some time at the Rampage check-in that morning and sign the waiver online by clicking the button below.

We started the Santa Cycle Rampage 16 years ago with a handful of people who rode their bikes all year so we had a fun ride in the winter and encourage other people to try riding in the winter. Now lots of people ride all year, which may be one reason why the Santa Cycle Rampage now attracts hundreds of people and has even spun off other Santa Cycle Rampage rides as far away as Boston.

Haven’t been on a Santa Cycle Rampage? This fun video from last year’s Rampage by Richard Beauchamp and our friends at Mainly Editing should give you an idea of what to expect. Thanks also to Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr. (July 12, 1941 – May 21, 2012) and The Versatones for the perfect background music. Blazoncyk, fromn south of the Cheddar Curtain, was a Grammy award-winning musician and is deservedly in the Polka Hall of Fame.

For 2016, the “official” Santa Cycle Rampage Ride day-of registration begins at 7:00 AM at Red Dot Tosa and pre-ride check-in will open at 7am, at BelAir Cantina. Please stop in to pick up your ride wrist band. We will also be giving riders free candy canes to share with people along the ride. Be sure to get to BelAir early enough to eat a special breakfast with “Golden Ticket” prizes hidden randomly in the meals!

The police-led Santa Cycle Rampage ride will start at 9:30am from Cranky Al’s Bakery at 69th and North Avenue (one of the traditional morning Santa gathering places). Riders can stage on 69th St., which will be closed. The ride will be a slow, 5.5 mile group ride down North Avenue to Lakefront Brewery.

Registration for the Santa Cycle Rampage Ride is

Bike Fed members: $20

Non-members: $35

Parents, in the spirit of the holidays, kids under 18 ride free, but be sure to add to your waiver please!

Buy a Rampage shirt, scarf, hat or hoodie when you register and we will ship them to you.

See the route map below for the location of registration check-in at BelAir Cantina, ride start at Cranky Al’s, and to find the locations of other Santa Gathering Places around the Milwaukee area.

This year we are looking for Coordinators for each of the Santa Gathering Places. These Head Santas will get free entry to the ride, and a free t-shirt or hat. Coordinators can help lead the Santas to the ride start or directly to Lakefront Brewery if you are skipping the official ride, and then back to their local Santa Gathering place after. If you are interested in becoming a Head Santa, email Santa Dave.

We want to keep the reindeer employed during the lead up to Christmas, so we had to make some changes this year.

We did contact all the other business owners where Santas traditionally gather in the morning or as post ride parties, and they all agreed to roll out the red carpet for holiday merry makers again this year. We even picked up some new places. All the business owners also agreed to sponsor the ride with donations to the Wisconsin Bike Fed. Below is the official list of Santa Cycle Rampage Day sponsors for morning gathering places and post ride parties. Note that some of these businesses have limited hours for Santas because they have tours and other events.

2017 Santa Gathering Places (Your neighborhood holiday haunt not listed? Ask the proprietor to email Santa Dave to get on the list!):

Red Dot, 6713 W North Ave., East Tosa 7am-close, Day of regsitration for the official ride is on the patio at Red Dot.

Of course, the more Santas the merrier, but we don’t expect everyone on the East Side or in Bay View to change their habits, register for the official ride and pedal out to ‘Tosa, just to ride back down to Lakefront Brewery. Santas around Milwaukee are welcome to keep their Rampage traditions and do their own things. You don’t have to register to put on a Santa Suit and spread holiday cheer. You can also buy a shirt or hat without doing our ride. Hopefully the number of businesses who welcome Santas continues to grow over the years, and there are even more people riding around in Santa suits in every corner of Milwaukee, getting more people to try riding bikes in the winter and spending money at local businesses to boost our economy.

This guy gets the award for the littlest Santa with the biggest heart for scooting along on the ride last year!

If you have never tried riding around town in a Santa suit, you really should. It is the only time you get honked at riding your bike because people are so happy to see you! We have lots more photos from Days of Santa Cycle Rampage Past here and here on our Bike Fed Photoshelter website.